


The Best Blood is An Alien Blue

by UsagichanP



Category: Black Friday - Team StarKid
Genre: (See: what I did to her in Hatchetober oof), (Yes I wrote ORIGINAL SONGS FOR THIS FIC I hope you're happy), Also a literal gun, Angst, Autistic Hannah Foster, Bittersweet Ending, Blood, Chekhov's Gun, Child Abuse, Choking, Ethan is so fucking extra in this I LIVE, Ethan: Aren't you tired of being nice? Don't you just wanna go apeshit, F/M, Foreshadowing, Gore, Hide and Seek to the DEATH, I deadass made a meme for my fic as well lmao, Infected are creepy and horny and violent and scary, Infected!Ethan, Major Character Injury, More bitter than sweet but... there's some hope ig, Original Songs, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Property Damage, Slight Innuendos, Someone take Hannah away from me I keep fucking her up, Stabbing, This is like a mix of 'Do You Want to Play' and Infected, Trauma, Violence, We always talk about Lex being an actress but Ethan is a great actor here..., not in a sexy fun way. in a deadly way :/
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:08:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27003274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UsagichanP/pseuds/UsagichanP
Summary: Something's wrong.Lex doesn't know what it is exactly, but everyone at work is completely gone, Hannah is acting weirder than normal, and she just has a really, really bad feeling about it.So she calls up Ethan to come pick her and Hannah up.15 minutes later, Ethan rolls up in his jalopy, covered in blood, wearing a too-wide grin and oozing shiny blue slime.And then he starts to sing.
Relationships: Lex Foster/Ethan Green
Comments: 5
Kudos: 21





	The Best Blood is An Alien Blue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello friends!  
> I have been sitting on this fic for quite some time (read: months) because I just could not figure out how to write my own song lyrics.  
> Yep. I have written at least 2 original songs for this fic. Hope you like it, because it was a pain in the ass to write. I'm better at writing poetry than songs, oops.  
> This is like... Do You Want To Play, but it's instead a very bloody, hot n cold Infected!Ethan.   
> TW: BLOOD, gore, strangling, intimidation, death, trauma (both physical and mental), biting, mild sexual innuendos, panic attacks, stabbing, guns, mouth trauma, uhhhhhh and general sadness.

Lex didn’t know what in the fuckening fuck was going on.

It started as just a regular day. Hannah didn’t want to go to school, so Lex had agreed to let her hang out in the backroom of ToyZone while Lex worked. They had done that plenty of times before (much to the displeasure of Frank, but who gives a fuck about Frank?). Nothing new.

Hannah was  _ very  _ agitated, more so than normal. She kept mumbling about  _ too much blue  _ and  _ black cars  _ and  _ red throat _ (whatever that fucking meant), the usual cryptic shit. Lex had given her some paper and crayons to draw with, and some headphones and a Walkman to distract her. Surprisingly, Hannah pushed the headphones away.

“What’s wrong, Hannah?” Lex’s eyebrows furrowed. “You usually like listening to music.”

“Bad music today. No more music.” Hannah stared at the Walkman warily. 

“Uh… ok. If you don’t wanna listen to anything, that’s fine.” Lex shoved it back in her backpack. “Is just the drawing stuff ok? Do you want some, um, blue slime to play with or something like that? I think I saw a container with some–”

“ _ No. _ ” Hannah interrupted, eyes wide and face grim. “ _ No  _ blue slime.” 

Lex hesitated. “A-alright.” She had never seen Hannah so serious. Not that she was a happy go lucky girl in the first place. “No slime. Got it.” 

The weirdness happened around lunchtime. Lex had been in the back most of the day, taking inventory and the like. ToyZone’s spring sale was starting in a week, and Frank had ordered her to make sure they had enough stock of their more popular items. 

Lex glanced at the storeroom clock. “Oh, 12:30. Great. Breaktime. I’ve been dying for a smoke. You wanna come outside with, Hannah?”

Hannah shook her head. “No. Outside not safe.”

“Rrrright. I’ll keep that in mind.” Lex dug around her backpack for her lighter and a pack of cigarettes, and along with her items pulled out a small red rubber stress ball. “Huh. I forgot I put this in there. It looks pretty old. I wonder if it still bounces.” She thought out loud. She threw it against the wall, and it pathetically bounced back. Hannah scooped it up and rolled it around in her hands. 

“You can have it if you’d like.” Lex said. “I don’t need it.” She shrugged. “Anyways, I’ll be back in 15.”

  
  


The sun shone brightly in the cloudless sky. For all intensive purposes, it should have been just a lovely Spring day. Yet somehow, the air was too...  _ still _ wasn’t the right word, but there was something indescribably off about it. Like when your brain tells you something’s wrong, but you can’t for the life of you figure out what the hell is it. A chill shot down Lex’s spine as she stepped outside. 

Strange. 

Even stranger, as she looked out at the outside mall parking lot, she realised that it was completely empty, save for 2 cars she knew other mall employees drove. 

_ That’s weird. Usually Wednesdays have at least a couple people.  _

She recognized the old 3rd hand 1978 Bugatti that that dweeb working at the movie theater owned got a new paint job. It was a pretty sorry one too; just a bunch of red paint splattered all over its usual blue colour. Ethan was way better at painting cars than that. 

Suddenly, Lex’s walky-talky sprang to life with loud static that nearly made Lex drop her cigarette. After a few seconds of irritating noise, it stopped as abruptly as it started.

“Jesus, the fuck was that?” Lex put a hand over her beating heart. “Scared me half to death, goddamn.” 

The radio crackled again. More static.

Lex’s stomach twisted into uneasy knots.

“Frank?” Lex said into the walky-talky. “Are you ok?”

Silence.

Just as she was about to put the radio away, it blared more crunchy white noise, along with… what sounded like yelling. It was impossible to discern who was saying anything, nevermind what was being said in the first place. 

“Frank?  _ Frank?? _ ” Lex repeated, concern creeping into her voice. “Frank are you there?!”

The line went dead.

Fuck.

_ I need to get out of here.  _

Quickly she whipped out her phone and text the person she always felt safe with, the person she knew would never hurt her.

Lex (12:33): hey Ethan. Some weird shit is going on. I don’t like it

Lex (12:33): nobody’s at the mall. Not even Frank. like NOBODY. 

Lex looked out at the parking lot, completely devoid of any vehicles or life. Even the usual crows picking at bits of dropped food on the asphalt were missing. An empty mall parking lot shouldn’t be eerie, yet somehow it was. She shuddered. 

Eth 💕 (12:35): Are you okay, Lex? 

Lex (12:35): Physically yea. But I’ve got like.., the heebee-geebees. idk how to spell it

Lex (12:35): You know what I fucking mean

Eth 💕 (12:36): Heebie-jeebies. 

Lex (12:36): Yea that

Lex (12:37): Did you look that up lol

Eth 💕 (12:38): No.

Eth 💕 (12:38): Ha ha. 

Lex’s eyebrows scrunched together and she frowned.  _ ‘Ha ha’? Since when does he say that? He’s usually like the ‘LMAOO’ lord. He practically uses ‘lmao’ as punctuation. When the hell has he used ‘ha ha’ like that? Wack.  _

Lex (12:38): Hannah’s been acting weird too. She won’t even listen to music, and she loves that shit so wtf

Eth 💕 (12:39): That is weird. Music is wonderful. Everyone likes music. 

Lex (12:40): ...dude are you ok 

Eth 💕 (12:41): Of course. :) 

Eth 💕 (12:41): Why would I not be okay? 

Lex (12:41): idk. sorry, I’m just being paranoid ig 

Lex chewed on her lip.  _ Should I really do this?  _

Lex (12:42): Do you think you could pick up me n Hannah? thx 

Surprisingly, Ethan texted back immediately. 

Eth 💕 (12:42): Yes. Where are you and Hannah? I can come to get you both.

Lex (12:42): I’m at work. I’ll meet you in the parking garage

Eth 💕 (12:43): Okay. Please be ready for everything at 1 PM. 

Lex (12:43): k. Love you Eth

Eth 💕 (12:44): I love you too. 

Lex closed her eyes and exhaled.  _ It’ll be ok Lex. Everything’s fine.  _

She took one last drag of her cigarette, then dropped it and crushed it under her foot. Her hands were shaking.

Why were they shaking? 

Lex decided to take the long way to ToyZone, casually walking through the vacant mall. Not even the soft pop music that usually played throughout the mall was on.  _ Good. Shit was awful anyways. _ Despite that, the lack of… anything reminded her of those apocalypse games where you wander through buildings abandoned long ago. 

She felt nauseous. 

  
  


She picked up her pace until she was near running into ToyZone, which was, as she expected, also deserted. 

She flung open the backroom door, praying to whatever god was out there that Hannah would be fine and safe. “Hannah?!”

Hannah looked up from her drawing. “Lex?” 

“Oh, thank fuck.” Lex sighed, dragging a hand down her face. What the hell was wrong with her today? Nothing bad had actually happened yet- well, except Frank’s weird radio thing- so why was Lex so damn worried? Sure, she had a fair reason to be creeped out, but it’s not like there were murderers or zombies or some shit running around. 

“Lexi, what’s wrong?” Hannah asked, getting up to check on her sister. “You ok?” 

“Yeah. It’s– listen, Hannah.” Lex bent down to Hannah’s height. “Pack up your stuff. We’re leaving.”

“Why?”

“Um…”  _ How the hell am I supposed to explain this?  _ “Well, uh, no one’s at the mall right now, and what's the point of working if there are no customers?”  _ Technically the truth. _

Hannah tilted her head. “Why?”

Lex shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe it’s a holiday or some shit.” 

She straightened up and cleared her throat. “ _ Anyways.  _ You were drawing something, right? Can I see?”

Hannah shook her head hard. “No. Not finished. Lost blue crayon.” 

“Oh, ok. Do you want to keep it?”

“No.” To Lex’s surprise, Hannah crumpled up the paper and stuffed it behind a random box. Hannah rarely actually destroyed or crumpled up her art. 

“Ethan’s picking us up, by the way.” Lex said, heaving her backpack on. “Maybe we can convince him to get us McDonald's. Would you like that?” 

Hannah’s eyes widened, and she made a little noise that almost sounded like a whimper. “No. Webby said Ethan’s blue.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“We shouldn’t go outside. Outside not safe.” 

“We can’t just stay inside forever, Hannah. I’ll be there to protect you, k?” Lex took Hannah’s hand gently. 

Hannah looked at the floor and tugged at her braids, something she did often while anxious. However, she didn’t resist when Lex pulled her along up the secret fire escape to the parking garage.

Like the outside parking lot, there weren’t many cars in the garage either. Maybe 8 or 10, all from other mall workers.

All abandoned too. 

Frankly, it was fucking creepy. If there was no one in the mall, why were their cars just left there? What the hell happened? 

Hannah’s grip on Lex’s hand tightened. 

Right at 1 o’clock on the dot, Ethan’s black car drove into the garage and stopped in front of Lex and Hannah. 

“Black car.” Hannah mumbled, stepping close to Lex. 

Lex cast a wayward glance at her.  _ What is she so scared of? She’s seen Ethan’s car a million times. Must be nervous from the creepy vibes here.  _

Lex turned her attention to Ethan. “Holy shit Eth, thank God you're here. Sorry for calling you on such short notice, I just… I can’t explain why, but we need to get out of here. Thanks for coming to get us–”

_ Vvvrrrrrr.  _

Gradually the car window rolled down. 

Ethan stared straight ahead in silence, wearing dark sunglasses and a blank face. 

Hannah squeezed Lex til the point of pain. 

As soon as the window was fully open, Ethan instantaneously jerked his head towards them, his neck loudly snapping with an awful  _ CRACK!  _

Lex winced at the harsh sound. It sounded like bones breaking under a heavy boot.

Slowly Ethan took off his sunglasses, revealing glowing bright blue eyes that shined even in the shadow of his car. Some blue slimy shit dripped down his cheeks like neon tear tracks and blood,  _ real fucking blood _ , covered the right side of his face and jaw- no, not just face, his shirt and hands and arms and fuck,  _ why the fuck was there so much blood?  _

“Hiya Lexie. Hiya Banana.” He said smoothly with a grin, his voice deep yet strangely lilted.

Lex’s stomach dropped.

“J-Jesus fucking Christ, are you- are you okay Ethan?” Lex sputtered. “There's blood and blue... shit all over you. Are you hurt?”

“Me? Nah.” Ethan’s smile grew and grew, until it stretched ear to ear, like a blood-stained Cheshire Cat. Usually Lex liked Ethan’s sweet smiles. Not fucking this one. “Never better, babe. Actually,” He leaned out the window, “I'm fan-fucking-tastic now.” A bit of blue slime oozed from his nose, dribbling down his lips. His smile didn’t falter.

Lex swallowed. “Uh… you have a little…” She pointed at his nose. “Something. Some blue shi… oh.” 

_ “Webby said Ethan’s blue.” _

Hannah stared up at her with what Lex could only describe as a “ _ I FUCKING TOLD YOU.”  _ look. 

“Oh, that? No big deal. That happens sometimes.” Ethan wiped the blue goo away with the back of his hand, smearing blood across his nose in the process. 

“Unrelated question.” Lex tried to keep her voice steady, but was doing a piss poor job at that. “Whose... whose blood is that? On your, um, everywhere, I mean.” 

Ethan looked down at his bloody shirt. “Hmm? I dunno. It doesn't really matter. Whoever it was, I’m sure they don’t mind anymore.” He laughed, sounding tinny and hollow. 

“Did you fucking  _ kill _ someone, Ethan?”

“They got better. It’s fine.” Ethan scoffed, rolling his eyes as if it was a stupid question. 

“You can’t get better from being fucking dead!” 

“Yes you can.” Ethan said bluntly, disregarding Lex incredulously shaking her head. “Now, get in the car Lex.” He patted the passenger seat, the friendly smile back on his face. His gaze flitted to Hannah, who flinched. “You too, Banana.”

“I don’t think so.” Lex stepped back. 

“Huh? Why not?” Ethan blinked like a confused puppy, as if he didn’t know why his girlfriend didn’t want to come with an apparent murderer with glowing blue snot. 

“I think we can walk home. Thanks anyways.” Lex gave him a tight albeit insincere grin.  _ It’s either that or get an uber. Today was the worst day for my car to get fucked up, ugh. And the next bus that actually goes to my regular stop won’t come for another hour. Fuck, this sucks.  _

“Hey, hey, slow down babe.” Ethan still wouldn’t leave her the fuck alone. He drove along next to her as she walked, easily catching up to her even as her gait increased.

_ Is this some fucking game to him or some shit?  _

Apparently, considering how Ethan didn’t seem to detect the obvious fear from Lex and Hannah.

Or maybe he did, and he just didn’t give a fuck. 

Probably the latter.

“There’s an entrance and an exit to this garage. The entrance is up ahead. Once we get out, you go to your special cubby and I call for help, k?” Lex whispered to Hannah. Hannah nodded. 

But Ethan Green was not a bitch that was easily fooled. Realising the girls were trying to escape, he grit his teeth and sped towards the parking garage entrance, flicking the steering wheel and pulling then releasing the emergency brake and clutch. The car drifted in a sharp right turn and screeched to an abrupt stop, blocking the entrance. 

Hannah and Lex stared at him, open-mouthed.

_ Jesus Christ, did he just fucking go “Gas Gas Gas” in a goddamn parking garage?  _

“Where the fuck did you learn to do that?” Lex muttered under her breath.

Ethan got out of the car, and threw the sunglasses perched on his head to the side. He couldn’t bite back a smirk at their stunned faces, but attempted to remain casual. “What’re you running away for?” 

“Ethan, I don’t think this is a good idea anymore. Me and Hannah can just wait for the bus, and…” Lex trailed off as Ethan stepped better into view. 

_ Oh god. Unless he used ketchup as hand sanitiser or used tomatoes for batting practice, there’s no way he got that much blood on him without murdering someon _ e.  _ Fuck, my boyfriend killed someone, didn’t he?  _

"Why do you look so scared? I haven't done anything!” Ethan spread out his arms. “Are you afraid of me? Don't be silly." 

“Yes I’m afraid. It’d be weird if I  _ wasn’t  _ afraid.” Lex spat. “You’re freaking us out and… and…” She faltered, “Ethan you're... crying…” 

“Hmm?” Ethan touched his cheek, his fingers coming back covered in bright blue, goopy tears. He hummed, somehow not perturbed in the slightest at blue shit running from his eyes. “Oh, these? Happy tears, babe. In fact,” His freakishly wide grin returned to his face, “I've never been happier in my life! And if you'll just  _ come here _ , I can make you happy too!” He made a beckoning motion. Neither girl budged. His eyebrow twitched slightly. 

“I’m not sure we have the same definition of happiness, Ethan.” Lex shot back. 

Ethan tilted his head. Though it was a simple motion, Lex instinctively stepped back. Maybe it was how quickly his smile dropped, maybe it was his dead unblinking stare, maybe it was how eerily still his entire body suddenly went, but an icy chill shot up her spine. 

_ This isn’t my Ethan.  _

Lex’s eyes darted to the doors connecting the garage to the inside of the mall.  _ Maybe I can– _

“Oh no, I wouldn’t do that if I were you, babe.” Ethan tutted, noticing her gaze. “You’ve worked in customer service, you know how nasty some people can get. I’m being nice to you. There’s some bad people running around, and if they trap you in the mall, something real bad could happen.” His face softened. “But I can protect you, if you’d just trust me.”

“Are you one of those bad people?” Hannah mumbled, speaking for the first time since they encountered Ethan. 

Ethan threw his head back with a sharp bark of laughter. “Ha! You’re funny.”

  
  


His eyes glowed, bright yet sinister, like the lure of an anglerfish hiding in the dark 3,000 feet under the sea, waiting patiently for his foolish prey. 

  
  


“...Of course not. I’m not a bad person. You know that.” He bent his knees to Hannah’s level. “Don’t you trust me, Banana?” 

“No!” Hannah pushed Ethan with all her strength (which admittedly wasn’t much), grabbed Lex’s hand, and pulled her to duck behind a random truck.

Ethan stumbled back, genuinely surprised at Hannah’s bravery. “Hoh! So that’s how it's gonna be, huh?” The corners of his mouth curled up devilishly. “Alrighty then. This’ll be a fun little game.” He licked his lips.

“Hannah~?  _ Do you want to play with me?”  _ He called, his tone playful yet haunting, drawn-out yet melodic.

Hannah and Lex looked at each other in horror. 

_ Is he… fucking singing? _

Ethan wasn’t a bad singer per se, not by a long shot. He could belt pretty damn well, and had killer vibrato. He was absolutely the type to yell-sing the lyrics to his favourite songs when they came on the radio (yet still sound weirdly good while doing it) and ironically sing along to songs he and Lex hated just to annoy the shit out of her. He sang soft lullabies to Hannah and rocked her to sleep. Hell, he even fucking rocked drunk karaoke. 

No, no, Ethan Green wasn’t a bad singer.

But he never sang like  _ this.  _

_ “You’ve had a rough go, kid. _

_ It’s no childhood you lived.  _

_ You’ve been beaten and stepped on and scolded and scorned.  _

_ At night it’s your innocence that you mourn.”  _ Ethan walked slowly through the aisles, evidently in no particular hurry.

Hannah flinched slightly, and looked at the ground. She really didn’t like being reminded of her abuse.

_ “So come on.  _

_ Come out.  _

_ Push away that doubt.  _

_ Don’t you trust me?” _

Ethan peered behind the nearest pillar, his eyes darting left and right sharply, before he resumed his walk. His movements were weird; sometimes they were odd and jerky, as if pulled along on a string by an inexperienced puppeteer, sometimes they were smooth and fluid like a professional dancer’s. 

_ “You must, see– just come here.”  _ He tapped his foot twice to an invisible beat.  _ “And I swear I can make it all disappear.”  _

_ “I can give you a new place to call home.  _

_ I can show you a life I think you’re owed.”  _

He sounded so disgustingly sincere.

He wasn’t of course. But he was a damn good liar.

_ “You won’t have to fear- Hannah!”  _ For a split second, her name was harsh on his lips,  _ “Just come here!”  _

He spread his arms wide, even though he couldn’t see her, 

_ “My arms are open.  _

_ Do you think I’m jokin’?”  _

At Hannah’s resistance to coming out, Ethan tried a different angle. 

_ “I’ve always cared for you.  _

_ I’ve always been there. _

_ I sang to you,  _

_ held you while you cried, _

_ and now you’re leaving me to die?”  _

He paused.

  
  


“I can hear you breathing.”

  
  


His voice was soft, barely above a whisper, but Lex and Hannah heard him loud and clear. 

  
  


They held their breath. 

  
  


“Oh, you’ve gone quiet now. But how long can you do that?” His amused smirk was practically audible.

  
  


The long silence made Lex’s skin crawl. She wanted to bite her nails, scratch her hands, fucking something to relieve the discomfort, but couldn’t. Who knew how good his hearing was? 

  
  


Lex was ripped from her thoughts as Ethan smashed his foot against a random car, the  **_BOOM_ ** reverberating through the air and slammed into the girls’ chests like an iron punch. 

Both girls let out their breaths.

“There we go! Was afraid you’d gone and died on me. We couldn’t let that happen, now could we?” Ethan snickered. “I won’t let it happen.” His voice went flat. “Not like this.” 

  
  


_ Shit… his hearing is seriously that good that he can hear us breathing? Actually, usually his hearing’s pretty bad, so why the hell does he suddenly have fucking super hearing?  _

Hannah must have been thinking the same thing as Lex, based on the way her eyebrows drew together and her body tensed. 

Ethan’s footsteps drew nearer, nearer, yet nearer still, each thump of his boots making Lex’s heart beat a little faster. Even when not singing out loud he continued to hum a little tune, his feet tapping to the rhythm of a song unheard by anyone but himself. His electric blue unblinking eyes scanned up and down the rows of cars in search of his targets.

He knew where they were, of course.

But it’s always fun fucking with your food before devouring it. 

  
  


Hannah fiddled with her jacket, moving slowly as to not rustle her clothing too loudly. After a moment she pulled out the red stress ball from earlier, and before Lex could shoot her a  _ Don’t you fucking dare  _ look, she threw the ball in the opposite direction of them.

Immediately Ethan pounced. Rushing to the other side of the garage in what seemed like an instant, he grabbed the stress ball mid bounce and  _ squeezed  _ until it burst with a loud  _ POP. _

Lex and Hannah flinched.

“Cute trick.” Ethan cooed, his sarcasm glaringly obvious. “But I’m afraid it didn’t do much.” His sardonic grin faded. He dropped the deflated ball carelessly, the broken rubber lying pitifully on the ground like a bright red stain against dark concrete. 

_ “Hannah just be reasonable _

_ Don’t be a fucking brat  _

_ If you come out on your own _

_ I won’t make your guts go splat.” _

Ethan’s voice dropped, all the playfulness in his tone leaving in an instant.

Hannah shivered violently and tugged on her braids harder.

One of her hair ties fell to the ground with a soft clink, but before she could pick it up, Lex grabbed Hannah’s hand and shook her head. 

“No. Too loud.” Lex mouthed, at which Hannah pouted, but nodded.

“Kiddo doesn’t wanna play, huh?” Ethan said, breaking them out of their trance. “That’s fine.” 

“Lex.” Ethan purred, his voice suddenly fine velvet. “ _ You’ll listen to reason, yes?”  _

Lex grit her teeth. 

Reason? 

Yeah right.

All “reason” went right out the window as soon as Ethan opened his mouth and started fucking singing.

Ethan began to hum softly. Lex’s heart dropped. She… she recognised that tune. It wasn’t much; just a little melody he sometimes hummed during random intimate moments, like when they stargazed on the hood of Ethan’s car, or while they cuddled, whether it after sex or drifting to sleep or just snuggling on the couch, or while sharing a joint at 3 AM between sleepy kisses. It was simple, yet comforting, and achingly familiar. 

If he remembered that tune, that must mean that he wasn’t  _ completely  _ gone, right?

Right?

_ “Remember when we were _

_ 16 and _

_ smoking weed  _

_ in the  _

_ backseat of my car?  _

_ We swore we’d fix each other _

_ Un-break what’s been shattered _

_ Superglue the cracks.”  _

He sounded… nostalgic. Despite not being able to see him, Lex could picture the small fond smile on his face. 

_ “Promised nights of rest and love _

_ Tender moments, sweet warm hugs  _

_ They can still be a thing _

_ If only you’d let them be.” _

_ “Let’s leave it all behind _

_ Check the locks _

_ Close the blinds  _

_ And finally say goodbye  _

_ To this life.” _

_ “We’ll make it  _

_ I swear to you _

_ So now you don’t need to cry no more.” _

Goddammit. 

God fucking dammit.

Lex wanted to cry. 

This… this wasn’t her Ethan. 

She knew that.

But by god, he was saying all the right things. 

_ “I’ve got a solution, _

_ But you won’t listen _

_ I’ve got the answer _

_ Yet you cover your ears  _

_ I have what we’ve been searching for _

_ Yet you still look away _

_ What, are you afraid?” _

All the wistful happiness faded from his words.

_ “Of me? _

_ Of you? _

_ Of the joy that I can bring? _

_ They say that ignorance is bliss _

_ But I can give you so much more _

_ If you’d just let me.” _

He scoffed, a rough noise of aggravation Lex had heard many times before.

_ “But you won’t let me.” _

_ “...Why won’t you let me?” _

Based on his tone alone, Lex couldn’t pinpoint exactly what emotion Ethan was feeling. Sadness? Frustration? Longing? 

All of the above? 

_ “I only want the best for you _

_ I only the best for us  _

_ But I can’t do shit, if you don’t come clean.” _

Definitely frustration.

_ “Your smile disappears behind the cigarette smoke.  _

_ Careful what you say or you’ll–” _

**_CRASH!_ **

Ethan’s fist punched through the front window of the car Lex and Hannah hid under, shattering the glass everywhere. 

Lex slapped a hand over Hannah’s mouth to suppress a scream, and held her trembling body close to her chest. She couldn’t even whisper words of comfort to her baby sister in fear of being heard. 

“ _ –choke!”  _

Ethan pulled his hand out, tsking in mild irritation at the shards of glass embedded in his knuckles. He picked out the shards and tossed them on the ground nonchalantly, as if brushing off a piece of popcorn that fell on your lap at the movies. Curiously, the glass glistened blue instead of scarlet. 

_ “You’d have better luck kissing a demon than an angel loving you.  _

_ Who am I kidding?”  _

He chuckled cruelly. 

“ _ No angel even cared for you in the first place.  _

_ If they did,  _

_ your life wouldn’t be such a mess.”  _

Lex blinked away tears.  _ He’s just saying that. This isn’t Ethan. He’s under some spell or some shit. He doesn’t mean that.  _ She insisted in her head. She didn’t know if she was lying to herself or not. 

_ “But the devil’s right here,  _

_ and I’ll make you a deal.  _

_ Creeping on your shoulder,  _

_ your heart mine to steal.”  _

His newly healed fingers twitched. 

_ “You long for love and a genuine grin.  _

_ You’ll never get it the straight-laced way-  _

_ since when have rules meant shit?  _

_ You’ve gotta play dirty in order to win.”  _

His voice rose in desperation, and his tempo increased.  _ “You still love me?  _

_ You still want me? _

_ C’mon Lexie! I love you too!  _

_ Forever and ever and ever  _

_ and ever and ever,  _

_ ever, ever, ever, _

_ just like you promised.  _

_ You promised, you promised,  _

_ don’t you recall?  _

_ Even through the blue I remember our love.”  _

His breathing grew harsh as his mania heightened. 

“ _ Lemme give you a blue lipped kiss-  _

_ or gimme your guts, whichever you wish.”  _

He paused, “If you’re gonna break up with me, at least do it in song.” 

He looked rather pleased with his joke.

Lex didn’t find it very funny. 

Squeezing Hannah’s hand to get her attention, Lex pointed at a pillar to a few feet to their right. Hannah’s eyebrows furrowed.

“We need to move.” Lex mouthed. “I go first, you stay. When he’s gone, we both go to that car.” She gestured to the brown car next to the pillar. Hannah’s eyes widened and she shook her head. Lex grimaced. “It’ll be ok.” She gently squeezed Hannah’s shoulder, and with that scurried over to the nearby pillar.

Ethan’s head whipped around. “I hear footsteps~” 

_ “I can play this game of cat and mouse all damn day.  _

_ No rush to die,  _

_ we’ve got all the time _

_ in the world.”  _

His words were slow, rich, dripping in thick poison honey, a contrast to the near ramblings moments ago. 

As soon as Ethan safely passed her spot, Lex ducked down and ran to the brown car. She jerked her head at Hannah in encouragement who, after a moment's hesitation, moved to hide behind the pillar.

_ “So you cute little chicks think you can outsmart the fox?  _

_ Don’t make me laugh–”  _

Ethan kicked a loose license plate off of a beat-up car’s front, which loudly clattered to the pavement.

_ “HA!” _

_ “But just because chickens can run around without their heads,  _

_ doesn’t mean they’re not actually dead.  _

_ How can you think clearly  _

_ when your brain’s on the ground?”  _

He picked up Hannah’s fallen hair tie and held it up, staring at it with the semi detached curiosity of a scientist studying a new specimen. 

_ “Do you really think you’ll ever be safe and sound?”  _

For the very briefest of moments, a look of concern, perhaps longing washed over Ethan’s face. Recognition flashed in his too-blue eyes. 

Even in the dim light, the tiny little blue plastic bead embedded on the thin bright yellow elastic band glimmered, albeit weakly. It was one of the hair ties from a pack Ethan had bought Hannah after her mom had thrown away her favourite ties for being ‘too distracting’. They were cheap, but Hannah loved them regardless. 

Ethan smirked and dropped the hair tie back onto the dirty pavement, then crushed it under his foot with an empty dry chuckle. 

Hannah winced minutely at the tiny crunch of the bead shattering. 

Ethan didn’t seem to notice. 

_ “Ya know how I never break a promise?  _

_ Well I’ll promise you this, right now: _

_ “I’ll hold you close as I make you mine.  _

_ Death’s not death when you’re in the Hive.” _

What in the goddamn fuck was he talking about? 

The Hive?

Is this bitch a bee now? 

Ethan’s pacing halted.

“No nostalgia, no bliss, no love, no kisses, no nothing. Why? No, no, no. It can’t– I don’t– Why isn’t it working...” 

At least he wasn’t singing anymore– though his frantic mutterings sounded almost as creepy. He clutched his head and groaned, fingers digging into his temples, as if experiencing a head splitting migraine. 

Suddenly, Ethan began to emit a weird hum, unlike anything Lex had ever heard before. It was what could only be described as... inhuman. It wasn’t like the buzz of an insect, maybe closer to the quiet hum of machinery, but that wasn’t exactly it either. 

The bizarre buzzing cut off as abruptly as it started. Ethan jerked his head up, his entire body taut and glowing eyes wide, before relaxing. 

“Lex.” He purred again, his entire demeanor changing. His eyelids lowered, and his lips curled into an alluring feline smirk. “Lexie.  _ Babe. _ ” 

Lex blinked, taken aback. He didn’t usually use that tone, unless–

“I know you’re there, Lexie.” Though he kept his words low, he knew Lex could hear him. “Somewhere  _ reeeeall  _ close, if I had to guess. Are you scared?”

He chuckled darkly, silvery but sinister. 

“To be honest… Picturing your scared face turns me on, ya know?” The slick sound of him running his tongue slowly over his teeth was audible in the dead silence of the garage, followed by another humourless laugh.

Lex couldn’t help but blush. She almost opened her mouth to shout what she was thinking-  _ “What the hell are you fucking talking about?!”-  _ but clamped it shut, knowing that snapping back may very well spell her doom. 

“It’s true, it’s true!” Ethan said, even with the lack of response. “And when I turn you-” His smirk widened, “When I turn you, do you want me to go gentle or hard?” A small snerk escaped his throat, but he paid it no mind. “‘cause based on what happened last Saturday night, I know you can take it _real_ _rough_.” He rolled the ‘r’s for emphasis. 

Lex bit back a gasp.

She wasn’t sure if she wanted to cover her face in embarrassment or slap him.

Both.

Both are good.

‘Turn her’? The hell does he mean by that? And how could he say that shit, much less in front of Hannah? 

Lex glanced at Hannah, trying not to betray the panic she felt. Luckily, Hannah looked more confused than anything. Thank God that went over her head.

“I know you like it when I pin you down. You look so good squirming beneath me.” Ethan continued. “And you like it when  _ you _ pin  _ me  _ down too, but I’m not in the mood for that right now. I’d much rather be on top.” He licked his lips. “Plenty of time to do that later, though~”

“Then I’ll kiss you so sweetly, and finally plant my seed.” He stuck his tongue out, which was now bluer than a blue raspberry slushie and weirdly slimy. “It’s not the first time your mouth’s been filled with my seed, heh.”

Lex physically recoiled.  _ Don’t phrase it like that, oh my fucking god!  _ She thought in horror. 

“Oh, jeez.” Ethan slapped his forehead. For a moment, his glowing eyes dimmed. “I forgot! There’s a kid here, isn’t there? Well damn.” He gave a dry laugh. “We’ll continue this later then, when there’s no kiddo around to hear us. That’d be better, right Lexie?” 

_ Or how about we don’t continue at all?  _ Lex thought bitterly. 

Lex had no fucking clue what the hell was wrong with Ethan. Was he possessed? Bewitched? A government clone? A Doppleganger? Perhaps under some sort of wack mind control? She didn’t really believe ghosts or magic or anything like that, but this obviously wasn’t normal Ethan. Even when Ethan was shitfaced or stoned out of his mind he didn’t act like this, not even fucking close. 

Christ. What Lex wouldn’t give for normal Ethan right now. 

Lex chewed on her inner cheek. Maybe that blue… shit covering Ethan had something to do with it. Last time she checked, boyfriends don’t drip blue goo. Maybe the blue shit was controlling him or something.

Or maybe not. It’s not like Lex could exactly fucking think straight right now. 

She had to focus on escaping and not getting caught.

What  _ would _ happen if Ethan caught her? 

He was certainly sending some pretty goddamn mixed messages. Would he be chill? Would he attack her? Would he  _ kill  _ her? Would he–

His earlier words echoed in her mind.

She paled. 

_ No. _ No no no no. Ethan would never do that to her, no matter what. 

Lex let out a shaky breath.  _ I just want my Ethan back. I don’t want this hot n cold, freaky, literally slimy singing creep. Is that too fucking much to ask?  _

She gripped Hannah’s hand tighter. 

“Lexie, I don’t like that you’re making me wait.” Ethan’s soft warning broke Lex out of her worrisome thoughts. “I’ve been real nice so far. But my patience,” He cracked one knuckle, “is running”  _ crack  _ “really”  _ crack  _ “fuckin’”  _ crack  _ “low now.” 

“ _ But _ –” He held his up finger, “it doesn’t have to be that way.” He offered. “It doesn’t have to hurt;  _ nothing  _ has to hurt. There doesn’t need to be a struggle or nothin’ like that. I don’t even have any weapons. So I’ll ask you fuckin’ nicely, one more time:” 

He held out his hands. “Girls, c’mere.”

Lex’s legs twitched, but she refused to move.

“1…

2….”

Ethan stopped. “No?”

A sigh.

“Fine.” 

_ “I SAID COME OUT, GODDAMMIT!”  _ Ethan snarled, his volume spiking to a roar without warning and making the girls jolt.  _ “You know your hiding will get you nowhere.” _

His carefully concealed anger reared its ugly head as his footsteps turned to stomps and his bloody hands curled into tight fists.

_ “I’ll grab you by your lovely hair  _

_ and shove you down  _

_ and soon, soon,  _

_ fucking soon _

_ your guts will decorate the ground!”  _

He belted with his full chest, each word venomous and raw with vexation. His deep final note stretched on and on, longer than Lex had ever heard him sing. 

_ “I can smell your fear _

_ It’s a poisonous perfume _

_ To the stench of misery  _

_ As it stinks up the room.”  _

The words grew louder, clearer as Ethan neared Lex and Hannah. 

_ “And I get  _

_ You wanna escape _

_ Your terrible fucking fate. _

_ There’s a way _

_ But you won’t listen- _

_ No, you’re too stubborn  _

_ To be saved.” _

_ “You don’t wanna die? _

_ Fuck, neither did I!”  _

He threw his arms up with a half-laugh.

_ “But now I’m happier than I  _

_ could ever be  _

_ Pills, drugs, or therapy _

_ To numb the pain _

_ Rather than take it all away.”  _

Lex’s brow furrowed in confusion.  _ What the fuck does he mean by die? And since when did he go to fucking therapy? That’s news.  _

Or was this all just a lie, designed to ensnare Lex into letting her guard down? 

Fuck, who knows anymore. 

The way he rapidly bounced back and forth between sweet and aggressive like a tennis ball in a national tennis match made her head spin. 

She wished he would just stay fucking consistent. Maybe fucking match his terrifying appearance. Adulations sound so damn wrong coming from his blue dripping mouth. How could he even sing so fucking beautiful when he was leaking blue shit from every orifice on his face? Someone get that man a goddamn towel. 

Blue slime dribbled from Ethan’s lips, yet his voice was clear as day as he kept singing. 

_ “I’m whatever you want me to be _

_ I can be mean, I can be sweet _

_ I can be hardcore, I can be nice _

_ I can be your sugar or your spice _

_ Believe me, baby, I’ll get you anything you need _

_ But only if you come with me.”  _

Ethan’s sweet song shook slightly.

He was nervous. Desperate, even.

_ “Why do you hate me? _

_ Do you want me dead? _

_ Would you prefer if I _

_ Had a bullet in my head? _

_ Will my blood make you happy? _

_ ‘Cause I… _

_ Just want to _

_ Make you _

_ Happy…” _

He trailed off.

_ “That’s all I ever wanted. _

_ Was to make you happy.  _

_ Make you smile, make you laugh, whatever you need _

_ You push me away _

_ I beg you to stay _

_ Please don’t leave me. _

_ Please.” _

His voice broke. The pacing slowed.

Lex’s heart ached.

_ “And I…” _

“I…” 

  
  


The footsteps stopped altogether.

Lex and Hannah glanced at each other with wide eyes and did not move.

Silence.

Then, a sob.

Yet it wasn’t from Lex or Hannah. 

“Lex?” Ethan’s voice sounded… different. Not like his singing voice, but not like his regular voice either.

_ Was he… crying?  _

Carefully, Lex lifted her head, only enough to see what the hell was happening. 

Sure enough, Ethan had his head in his hands, and was shaking hard enough for Lex to see despite the distance. 

“Lex?” He called out again. He sounded so pathetic, so raw. A knot formed in Lex’s throat, but it wasn’t from fear. It was more from pity. Ethan had  _ never  _ cried in front of her. Not openly, at least. He was always her protector. He was always there to help her when she was down. Maybe it was time for Lex to help him. 

Lex mouthed, “I’m going out there.” to Hannah then, and despite her frantic head shakes, stood up.

“Ethan,” Lex said softly. Ethan stiffened, though he didn’t look up. “Ethan, are you ok?”  _ Obviously not.  _ Slowly she approached him, as if approaching a dangerous animal- which, to be fair, he definitely was dangerous. 

“No. I don’t know.” He whimpered, his voice sticky with tears. It had lost its former sing-songy tune. “I don’t understand what’s happening. What’s happening to me, happening to the world, all of that shit.”

“Shit, I don’t either.” Lex half laughed, half scoffed. 

“Why were you hiding?” Ethan asked lowly. “Did I do something?”

“...Do you seriously not remember what just happened?” Lex ran her fingers through her hair in disbelief. “What, do you have the memory of a fuckin goldfish? You scared the shit out of us. You fucking threatened to gut us.”

Ethan trembled harder. “I didn’t mean to!” More thick sobs, seemingly too loud in the otherwise silent garage, poured out of his mouth like waves crashing onto the shore. “I don’t know what came over me. I was going about my day and just– I just blacked out, an’– and when I woke up, I’m here and covered in all this shit and–” His breathing got faster and faster, to the point where he was nearly hyperventilating, “I don’t know what the fuck’s going on. I- I didn’t hurt you, did I? Oh  _ god _ , please tell me I didn’t do anything to hurt you or Hannah.” He choked on a whimper. “I’d never forgive myself if I did.” 

Lex bit her lip. “Eth, calm down. Something really fucking weird is going on out there. I don’t have a fucking clue what it is, but we’re gonna get nowhere if we sit around and stress about it.” She offered him a small albeit weak smile and stepped closer. “Besides, even if you did have a weird The Shining-esque breakdown, at least you didn’t seriously hurt us!”

Ethan mumbled something that started with a  _ Y _ , but Lex couldn’t make it out. 

“Really?” Tears slipped between his fingers and dripped onto the ground. Too bad Lex didn’t notice they were bright blue and glowing. 

  
  


“Yeah. See? No wounds.” Lex held up her hands. “It’s all good.” Ethan nodded. He didn’t even look up. 

“Can I hug you, Lexie?” His wet hands hid his grin. “I just need something to… ground me.”

Lex raised an eyebrow in skepticism. “And have you shank me? No thanks.”

“No shanking. No punching or kicking or anything like that. Hell, if it makes you feel better, here.” Ethan turned around and unzipped his jacket and pulled out his shiny switchblade. He unceremoniously tossed it aside, where it landed a mere 3 feet away from Hannah. 

“See? I’m unarmed- though I would never attack you with my blade in the first place. And I’m better now. So it’s ok.” Still, he didn’t turn around. 

Lex, like the idiot she was, walked closer. “You say that, but just a few moments ago you were screaming and threatening us.” 

“But nothing happened!” Ethan protested. Based on Lex’s unimpressed silence, he tried a different approach.

“Oh Lex, don’t you love me?” He said with the drama of a melodramatic starlet in a shitty 1940s romance movie. “You mean the world to me. We- we talked about escaping to California, yeah? I couldn’t tell you what’s going on out there even if I wanted to, but it isn’t normal. Maybe in all this confusion we can escape. No one will stop us.” His tone rose slightly in excitement. “I already got the jalopy and some gas money. I’ll just grab Hannah and then we can get the fuck out of here.”

“Seriously?” Lex felt strangely hopeful. Warning bells were still going off in her head, but she ignored them. Ethan was better. He wasn’t singing anymore or acting mean. It’d be fine. 

At least, she wanted it to be fine.

“Of course. I love you.” Ethan replied with a smile. Thank goodness Lex couldn’t see his true smile. It wasn’t comforting or gentle like she thought.

Ethan had the grin of an unhinged serial killer about to gut his next victim stretched across his pale, blue-stained face. 

“Can I get that hug now?” He tried again. Lex hummed in confirmation and opened her arms.

Swiftly Ethan turned around and practically ran into her arms, wrapping his arms around her back tightly and squeezing. 

Lex tensed, but Ethan didn’t do anything.  _ Oh. He actually is hugging me.  _ She squeezed him back and rubbed his back comfortingly. “I love you too, Eth.”

“You have no idea how much this means to me. Means to us.” Ethan mumbled, burying his face in her shoulder. “Really.” 

Gently he brushed some hair away from the left side of Lex’s neck. His other hand rose to rest on her nape. 

“Oh, and Lexie?” His grip on the back of her neck tightened to the point of pain. “ _ You’ve made the best mistake of your life. _ ” He purred into her ear, his voice back to its teasing musical tone. “ _ The Hive’ll be so happy… that you’re finally mine.” _

“Wha-”

Lex didn’t even finish her shocked question before Ethan sank his teeth deeply into her neck and pulled back, tearing out flesh and stringy sinews. Blood from her punctured carotid artery spilled and spurted and splattered Ethan’s already gory face. 

Her screams echoed throughout the garage, only sputtering and stopping as Ethan ripped out her vocal cords. 

And he laughed.

He laughed, and laughed, and laughed, a crazed laugh as he held the dying love of his life in his arms. 

Lex slumped down, the life quickly fading from her eyes. Ethan bit back another giggle. The look of horrified betrayal on her pale face was so cute! He supported her limp body with one arm, and used his right hand to pull out a tendon wedged between his teeth. Man, his dead girlfriend was chewier than he expected. 

He hovered his lips over the gruesome mess that was Lex’s neck as if he was about to kiss it. Instead, a slimy, electric blue spew dripped from his mouth and dribbled onto the wound. It quickly mixed into her red blood and spread across liquid like thick, far-reaching tree branches, until the carnage turned the same blue as the vomit. 

Lex’s eyes fluttered open. “Ethan?” She gasped, her weak voice somehow already melodic.

“I’m here. It’s alright. You’re one of us now.” Ethan soothed, tenderly rubbing his thumb over her cheek, leaving a sticky trail of blood. “Isn’t it wonderful?”

“It is.” Lex wrapped her arms around his neck and gazed at him lovingly. Miraculously, her torn, bloody wound fused back together and mended itself in seconds, until there was no wound at all, just smooth, flawless skin. Only her bloodstained ripped shirt showed something absolutely terrible occurred. “I can’t believe I ever wanted to resist the Hive.” 

“We’re happier with the Hive than we ever would be in California. This is for the better. The better of the world. The better of us.” Ethan said, drawing her into a deep kiss. If it wasn’t for the gore and blue shit covering both of them, they would have almost looked like a regular couple. 

Hannah watched all this with wide eyes. She covered her mouth to stifle a whimper, but could not stop a few tears from rolling down her cheeks. The screams of her sister would haunt her dreams forever- assuming she would live long enough to dream again, of course. And Ethan’s laugh… that couldn’t really be Ethan, no way. Normal Ethan wouldn’t laugh as he hurt Lex. Normal Ethan wouldn’t hurt Lex to begin with. And what the heck was up with Lex? Hannah saw Ethan take a munch out of her neck like it was a candy bar. She should have absolutely been dead. Yet she wasn’t dead, and even weirder the wound had completely vanished. It was strange and frightening and Hannah just wanted to curl up in a ball and wait until this was all over. But waiting would only cause her life to be over. She needed to act, and fast.

_ ‘Webby, please, please, help me. I’m scared. _ ’ Hannah begged in her head. And to her relief, Webby replied.

**_Knife_ ** _. _

Luckily it didn’t take a genius to figure out what that meant. Hannah peeked at Lex and Ethan- still making out, surprise surprise. (Seriously, why do teenagers always kiss for so long? Can they even breathe while kissing? Sometimes it’s fine but sometimes it looks so icky.) As quietly as she could, Hannah crawled across the cold floor, grabbed Ethan’s switchblade, then hurriedly returned to her hiding spot. 

“All we have to do now is grab the little snot, give her some… love, and the apotheosis will soon be complete.” Ethan suggested as he pulled away from the kiss. He gave Lex a soft smile that had no business being on a violent murderer like him’s face. “Let’s go find the last member of our family, shall we?” 

“Hannah?” Lex called in a saccharine sweet voice. Hannah shivered. It seemed so  _ wrong  _ coming from Lex’s mouth. This isn’t how her big sister sounded. Then again, was that even really her big sister at this point? Or was it some alien thing that had taken over her? Was Lex still alive, trapped inside her own body, or was she gone forever? God, all these questions made Hannah’s head hurt. 

Lex’s footsteps grew nearer, until they stopped right next to the car. Hopefully those blue zombie things, whatever they’re called, didn’t hear Hannah’s thundering heartbeat. 

“Gotcha!” Lex jumped behind the car, only to find nothing there. Her smile fell. “Well shit.”

“Hey Lexie, looky here.” Ethan pointed to the ground.

“What? I don’t see anything.”

“My knife’s gone.”

“Ohhh.” 

“Hey Banana, how many times do I have to tell you to stop touching my switchblade? You could hurt yourself or somebody else!” Ethan scolded. His tone was almost affably playful, as if this was all just a silly children’s game instead of hide and seek to the death. 

“I thought I taught you better than that! Stealing’s bad! I mean I know I do it sometimes, but you shouldn’t!” Lex added. 

Hannah watched them from a few cars away. She wished she could separate those monsters from her siblings as if they were different entities, but she couldn’t. Even if they had completely different personalities, they still wore Lex and Ethan’s faces. It almost would have been less painful if they were truly dead and not just singing violent zombies ready to tear her apart. 

“ _ Hannah, my dearest, where are you hiding? Come over here and I’ll give you a treat.” _

Oh God, they’re singing.

“ _ The Hive can give you such wonderful things.  _

_ Things you’d never achieve in your life.”  _ Lex sang.

“ _ A collective mind, a collective happiness.  _

_ Is it a lie if you truly feel it?” _

_ “Is it a lie if you truly like it?”  _ Ethan added.

“ _ The world is a scary place,  _

_ we’ve both known that for so long.” _

Lex tapped her fingers on the hood of a nearby car, punctuating her drawn out last note by loudly dragging her fingers down the metal roof, like nails on a chalkboard. 

_ “It’s not a sin to wish for something better.  _

_ To wish for a smile isn’t wrong.”  _

“ _ But there’s an easy way out.” _

_ “The pain’s just temporary.”  _

_ “A small little thing.” _

_ “It’s really not that scary.”  _

_ “You’ve always wanted a proper family.  _

_ One that’s not a neurotic mess.” _

Lex stopped for a moment. 

_ “I can’t blame you. I’ve wanted that too.”  _

_ “Will 7.6 billion mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters do?  _

_ There must be good people somewhere, somehow,  _

_ you’d like that wouldn’t you?”  _

Suddenly Lex slammed her hand on a car, making a sharp  _ bang!  _ Hannah jolted in her hiding place, but kept quiet.

  
  


“ _ I need you, Hannah.”  _ Lex’s voice was soft, a sharp contrast to the previous scary harsh noise. 

“ _ We need you.”  _ Lex and Ethan harmonized together. 

“ _ And you need us.  _

_ We’re incomplete without each other,  _

_ so turning is a must.”  _

_ “We’ll be gentle, I promise.”  _

_ “You think we’d ever really hurt you?”  _

_ “Family doesn’t hurt family… too bad.”  _

Another loud noise, this time from Ethan kicking a shopping cart that some dumbass had left in the garage. 

_ “I’m your sister.” _

_ “And you’re my little Banana.”  _

_ “We need you Hannah.”  _ Their voices reverberated throughout the spacious parking garage, honeyed yet secretly menacing. 

“ _ And you need us.  _

_ You’ll never survive on your own out there,  _

_ So why even try?  _

_ We’re offering salvation,  _

_ why must you deny?” _

Lex and Ethan walked past Hannah’s hiding spot, and she had a split-second decision to make- move forward towards the exit, or run to her previous spot and hope they don’t double back. 

_ Webby, what do I do? _

She received no answer. Crap. 

_ No, I need to escape. It’s only a couple hundred feet. You can do this Hannah.  _

After checking to make sure Lex and Ethan weren’t looking her way, Hannah darted out and crouched behind the pillar. 

_ “We’re family.  _

_ We love you,  _

_ don’t you know it’s true.  _

_ There’s no use in hiding,  _

_ cause we’ll come for you.” _

_ “Time to split this Banana in two.”  _

_ “The best blood is an alien blue.”  _

They both sounded irritated. Not good. Really, really not good. 

As Hannah shifted minutely to get better footing, she heard a soft  _ squelch  _ and felt something wet under her shoe.

She looked down.

Blood.

An entire puddle of it, in fact. 

It sank into her beat up sneakers and turned them from dirty white to a dark scarlet. 

An involuntary squeak of terror left her lips, and she immediately clapped her hands over her mouth. 

The footsteps paused.

_ Please don’t hear that please don’t hear that please don’t hear that. _

They totally freaking heard that, of course. 

  
  


“ _ Foouund yooou~” _

  
  


Hannah sprinted towards the exit, but Lex blocked her way out. Hannah turned to go left, but Ethan blocked the left way as well. 

She was trapped. 

Hannah backed up until her back hit the wall and she fell down with a harsh thump. Her tailbone stung, but she had other things to worry about. Lex and Ethan were advancing on her steadily, and despite the exit to the garage being only a few feet away, she knew if she tried to run they’d grab her. 

“S-Stay the hell away from me!” Hannah blurted. Lex and Ethan’s eyes widened, and they stopped.

“Hannah!” Lex gasped scandalously, and for a moment it was like she was back to normal. “Don’t you fucking cuss! You’re still a fucking kid!” 

“I’m a fucking kid that’s about to die.” Hannah muttered, half to herself. 

“ _ HANNAH! _ ” Lex and Ethan’s jaws dropped at the same time. “What the hell did your sister just say?” Ethan berated. 

“She’s not my sister.” Hannah’s eyes filled up with tears once again; it was a damn wonder her tear ducts weren’t completely dry by now. “And you’re not Ethan. You’re both liars. Bad Lex, bad Ethan.” 

Ethan clucked his tongue. “That’s not very fucking nice, Banana. We’re not bad. We want you to be happy. The Hive wants you to be happy. In the end, you’ll be so grateful we killed you.” He lowered himself to Hannah’s level, and had the nerve to look kind. “I promise.” 

“No you’re–  _ ghnnk!”  _ Hannah choked as a large strong hand wrapped around her esophagus and  _ squeezed _ . Immediately all air left her lungs, and she began to squirm and writhe and struggle in his strong grasp. She desperately clawed at his hands, but her dull fingernails did nothing to dislodge him. Frantically she glanced at Lex, who was standing back, gazing upon the brutal strangulation of her precious little sister with a frighteningly casual and inscrutable look. Black spots clouded Hannah’s vision, and her eyes rolled up in her head. She tried to scream out his name, or Lex’s name, or a cry for help, or anything really, yet no sounds escaped her mouth other than a pathetic wheeze. 

_ Is this how I die? _

_ Alone in a mall parking garage, choked by the people I love. _

_ What a terrible death.  _

Then, a voice. Faint, but still there.

**_Blade. Throat. Light. Truck._ **

Hannah didn’t know what ‘truck’ meant, but she could guess the first two.

_ I don’t want to hurt him. Please don’t make me do this.  _ She begged.

**_He heals. Two chances, take one. Now._ **

Webby was, as always, unfortunately right. 

If Hannah could say  _ I’m sorry _ , she would have. 

She fumbled around in her pocket, finally managing to grab the switchblade despite her consciousness fading quickly. She raised it up, and–

Ethan’s brutal, startled, pained cry rang harshly in her ears as she plunged the knife deeply into his jugular.

Blue blood gushed from the laceration like a fountain and stained the blade so badly it would never wash out. She pushed it in deeper, deeper, deeper, till her fist hit his bloody skin. 

His hands dropped from Hannah’s neck and she doubled over, wheezing and gasping for air. Purple and blue bruises quickly blossomed on her frail neck like deadly flowers in spring. As soon as she was free, she yanked the knife out and scrambled to her feet, then sprinted as fast as she could to the exit of the garage and into the light of day. 

“You fucking little shit!” Ethan bellowed after her, but Hannah paid him no mind. If she ran fast enough, far enough, maybe she could find help. 

_ Yes!  _

_ I’m almost there! _

_ I’m almost– _

Hannah’s jaw hit the pavement with a harsh _bang_. Blood filled her mouth as her teeth sunk into her lower lip, and she winced when the iron taste overwhelmed her taste buds. She looked back to see Lex clutching onto Hannah’s ankle, her face warped in anger. 

“You’re not getting away this easily.” She growled, and started dragging Hannah back into the dark garage.

“No! No no no no no!” Hannah cried, her voice gurgling with blood. She tried to cling to the pavement, but only damaged her fingernails in the process. 

“Guess we’ll have to do this a different way.” Ethan snarled. He cracked his neck, which, as Hannah noticed, was already good as new. Apparently that stabbing was only a minor hindrance to him, not actually dangerous. Shoot. 

“Please, stop–” Lex flipped Hannah onto her back, and before Hannah could ask what they were doing, Ethan knelt down and pressed his knee against her chest, pinning her against the ground with a terrifying amount of force. She struggled to breathe as Ethan pushed his knee down harder, crushing her lungs like a crumpled up plastic wrapper. 

Hannah opened her mouth to gasp for air, but Ethan took advantage of that and grabbed the top and bottom of her mouth and wrenched it wide open. Trying to bite down did nothing; in fact, it only seemed to make him angrier.

“Careful. My bite’s worse than my bark.” Ethan warned. “Lexie can confirm.” He chuckled darkly. Lex snorted and rolled her eyes. It hurt Hannah’s heart how normal that looked. 

“Hey Hannah, ya know how I said there were bad people out there? And that I wasn’t one?” Ethan murmured, forcing more pressure on her chest. He leaned down close to whisper in her ear. “I lied.” A stray droplet of blood- her own sister’s blood- dripped from his chin onto her cheek. “I am one of ‘em.” He dug his nails into the roof of her mouth, making her gag. 

Blood and drool dripped out of Hannah’s mouth, staining her shirt and jacket. Idly she wondered if her sternum was going to break. It sure freaking felt like it.

Lex squatted down next to Hannah. “ _I_ __t_ ’ll hurt less, if you just stay still.”  _ She sang, gently brushing some hair out of Hannah’s big, terrified eyes. “ _ Open your mouth, and take your fill.”  _

Hannah shook her head as hard as she could. Ethan’s strong hands pulled her jaw open to the point of pain. She couldn’t tell if her blurry vision was from the tears welling up or the lack of air. 

_ Is this how I die? _

Hannah thought for the second time as Lex’s mouth neared hers. 

Then-

**_BANG!_ **

Lex, Ethan, and Hannah looked up. There stood a large man with curly hair and a beard, pointing a shotgun at them. Hannah didn’t recognise him but Lex and Ethan did, based on the way they tensed and halted.

“Lex, Ethan, stop it!” The man yelled. “Let go of her.” 

Surprisingly, they did. Hannah and the man locked eyes, and he nodded towards his red truck behind him.

_ Truck. Truck!  _

Taking the hint, Hannah jumped up and ran to the truck, spitting out blood to the side as she did. The left door opened and she climbed in, slamming the door shut behind her. 

Inside was a kind looking young woman with brilliant red hair, and a boy that Hannah knew from class- Tim? Something like that. Both looked very worried about her. 

“Are you ok, sweetheart?” The woman asked. Hannah shook her head. “Oh dear. What happened out there?”

Hannah was quiet for a moment.

**_You can trust her. She will help you._ **

Hannah slowly looked back to the lady. “Lex… Ethan… they…” She closed her eyes, trying to think of what to say. As she took a deep breath, her throat croaked and she winced. Even though she was no longer being choked, it was still hard to breathe.

The lady noticed immediately. “Honey, your neck…” She reached out to touch it, but Hannah recoiled instinctively. “Hey, I’m not gonna hurt you. I just wanna look. Did, um, Lex and Ethan do this to you?” Hannah nodded. The woman’s brow furrowed further. Gently she pushed Hannah’s chin up to look at the bruises and marks on her neck. “Jeez, this looks rough.” 

“Hannah, right? Tim piped up as the nice lady examined her neck. “I’m Tim. And that’s Becky. You’re in my class. I don’t think we’ve ever talked though. I saw you and you looked like you needed help. I think my dad knows the other people out there.” He offered a weak smile. “Maybe we can help them too.”

Hannah glanced out the window, but Becky lightly pushed her face back. “Look at me, sweetheart. Tom’s handling it right now.”

  
  


Speaking of Tom, he was not in the best situation right now, not by a fucking long shot.

Never in his wildest dreams did he think that he’d ever be pointing a shotgun at his former students, but here he was.

And he hated it.

“Mr. Houston,” the teenagers spoke as one, “how dare you interrupt the induction of a new member of the Hive. We will rip you limb from limb as punishment.”

“Now I definitely know they’re infected. There’s no way Ethan would know a word like ‘induction’.” Tom muttered to himself. 

“Listen, truthfully I dunno what the hell’s going on, but you can’t hurt people like that! Especially kids!” Tom lectured. “That was your little sister you talked about, right Lex? Do you realise what you were doing to her?” 

“We were making her one of us.” Lex replied, though her voice was unsteady. 

“Yeah, and traumatising her while you were at it.” Tom snapped.

“The girl will be fine. She will heal. We all do.” Ethan brushed it aside, his blue eyes glowing slightly. “No mortal can kill us.”

“Oh yes they fuckin’ can. I killed 3 of you singing zombie fuckers on the way here. Aim for the head.” Tom re-aimed his gun. “I don’t wanna kill you guys, though. So run along, and no one has to get hurt.” 

Both Ethan and Lex stood up. “You don't have the guts to kill us. You stupid humans have attachments that make you weak.” Ethan taunted. 

“All the Hive cares about it making you one of us.” Lex continued. “Though we will make sure you go through unspeakable agony for killing our brethren.” 

“I do have the guts, and if it means protecting people, then I will shoot.” Tom insisted. 

He wasn’t bluffing.

Sort of. 

“Fine. Then we’ll kill you first, and rip up your loved ones next.” Lex assented. “Happy now?”

“No!”

“It doesn’t fucking matter.” Ethan scowled. “You take the kids. Dibs on that lumberjack fuck.” Lex nodded, and moved forward. 

“Like hell you will!”

**_BANG!!!_ **

  
  
  


Tom meant to hit Lex’s shoulder.

A non fatal hit. 

They’d heal, as long as it wasn’t to the head. 

How was he supposed to know Ethan would move in front of her?

He couldn’t have known.

Time seemed to stand still for a moment, as Tom and Lex processed what just happened.

  
  
  


An ear splitting, feral scream, filled to the brim with anguish and agony, pierced the air and dragged on for what seemed like an eternity before slowly petering off into a wailing, despairing sob. 

  
  


Tom felt like he was going to throw up. 

His hands shook, the hair on the back of his neck stood up, and all the colour drained from his face. 

He hadn’t heard such raw, pained screams since Iraq.

This, this was worse though. He knew these people. And this was his fault. 

  
  


Lex fell to her knees then to the ground, and crawled over to scoop up the finally dead body of her boyfriend in her arms. It was almost impossible to make out the exact features of his blown in face.

Aim for the head indeed.

Her sobs shook her whole body as she wept into Ethan’s chest, gurgled whimpers of his name mixed between cries muffled by his shirt. 

Tom almost wanted to look away. He thought those infected weren’t capable of grief, then again, maybe there was some of Lex left in her. 

“Lex, I-I didn’t mean to…” He stammered. “I didn’t mean to shoot him, I swear. It was an accident!” His breathing sped up, and he was vaguely aware he was on the cusp of a panic attack, but he couldn’t focus on that right now. 

Lex slowly looked up. “You…” A steady stream of clear tears fell from her left eye and mixed with the splattered brains on her cheek, while her right tears glowed bright blue. Her despondent expression twisted into utter fury as she focused on Tom. “You did it! You killed him!” She stood up and pointed an accusatory finger at him. “I’ll fucking kill you! I’ll fucking rip out your guts and tear you to fucking pieces!” Her voice was hoarse from her screaming, yet still full of venomous vehemence. 

And then, she charged at him. 

  
  


Tom kicked Lex in the stomach as hard as he could, sending her flying back with a grunt. He bolted back to his truck, shut the door with a bang, and started the car as quickly as possible. 

  
  


He didn’t look back until they were half a mile away. Lex wasn’t pursuing them, so she probably went back to mourn over Ethan. Tom’s stomach twisted.  _ This is all my fault. My fault, my fault, my fault.  _

  
  


“Tom, what the hell happened out there?” Becky whisper-shouted through gritted teeth as they screeched to a halt a red light. “That sounded like a banshee scream!” 

Tom tried to take deep breaths. He leaned over and whispered in Becky’s ear.

Becky gasped, and her hands flew to her mouth. 

“Tom! How could you do that?! What are we going to tell Hannah?” She lowered her voice further, glancing Hannah, who was curled up and had gone completely nonverbal. 

“I didn’t fucking do it on purpose, dammit!” Tom hissed. “And I don’t fucking know. You’re better with kids than I am, right?” The light turned green, and he slammed on the gas. 

“Dad, where are we going?” Tim leaned forward, trying to see the road.

“I don’t know, Tim. Somewhere. Clivesdale, unless the bridge is up.”

“And if the bridge  _ is  _ up?” Becky pressed.

“I don’t know.” Tom repeated. “Anywhere away from this madness.” He slowed down as he caught sight of a burning McDonalds. “Jesus Christ, they really are monsters.” 

“Oh no! There was a toy I really wanted!” Tim crawled over Becky’s lap to get a better look. 

“They sell the same toys at McDonald’s across the country, Tim. We’ll get you one somewhere else, ok sweetie?” Becky said soothingly. Tim huffed but nodded, and sat back down. 

Becky turned to Hannah. “Do you know where your Mommy or Daddy are?”

“Beck, we don’t have time to take a detour.” Tom shouted from the front.

“Hannah, would your Mommy or Daddy be worried if we took you to safety?”

Hannah stared out the window.

“We’re not bad people. You can trust us.” 

More silence.

“Alright.” Becky sighed, realising she was making no headway with this. Hannah was obviously traumatised and not in the talking mood. Fair enough.

“Oh, thank god. The bridge is still down.” Tom exhaled in relief as they approached the large bridge. 

“For now. Just got an alert that HFPD is encouraging a shelter in place. The Clivesdale Bridge is expected to close soon too.” Becky cautioned, looking at her phone.

“Shit.” Tom swore quietly. “Well, guess there’s one thing left to do.”

“What?”

“Fucking gas this thing.”

Thank goodness for seatbelts, otherwise everyone in the back would have violently slammed their heads through the front seats.

“Dad! You’re going too fast!” Tim complained. Becky nodded, face paler than usual. 

Hannah didn’t flinch. She was used to crazy driving. Lex was a freaking speed demon sometimes, and Ethan could be rather reckless as well.

_ Ethan…  _

Hannah wasn’t stupid. She knew that Ethan was dead. It didn't take a genius to figure out what the large bang and following blood curdling scream meant. 

As for Lex, Hannah didn’t know if she was dead or alive, but did it really matter? She would never see normal Lex again. Heck, would Lex even live that long? She might be dead already.

Everyone Hannah had ever loved was gone.

And it was only two people. 

“We made it.” Tom drew a shaky breath. “We made it to Clivesdale.”

“Just in time too. The bridge’s already going up.” Becky said. “If we were 5 minutes later, we’d be stuck in Hatchetfield.”

Tim turned around in his seat. “I’ve never seen a bridge move in real life. Only in movies. Look.” 

Unable to resist the temptation, Hannah lifted her head and glanced behind her to see the big drawbridge that connected Clivesdale and Hatchetfield, the shitty place she had lived in for her entire life, slowly rising up until it blocked her view of her old city. 

Without a word, she returned to staring out the car window blankly at the nonchaotic, semi-familiar streets of Clivesdale, so different from the streets she had passed in all her 9 years. Streets that were now ridden with singing zombies drenched in the blood of those they had torn apart and oozing blue slime. 

Funny how things could be ruined so quickly. 

But there was no point in truly mourning Hatchetfield; Hannah mourned the people, not the place itself. She was safe now, and that’s all that matters. 

She never looked back.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, Hannah's thoroughly traumatized. Permanently. Hope you don't mind paying for two kids' therapy Tom.   
> ~~Imagine being strangled by the only other person you love while your sister watches in complete apathy as you slowly asphyxiate... poor Hannah. I could make a fucking list of the horrible things I've done to Hannah just in this fic alone.~~  
>  At least they escaped, right?  
> While writing, I actually made a fuckin [meme of this fic](https://usagichanp.tumblr.com/post/623582610468306944/cant-believe-i-made-memes-for-my-own-fic-smh) bc fuck it why not?  
> I had a lot of fun writing Infected Ethan. Bastard. ~~I lowkey think it'd be cool if there was an Infected!Ethan POV, or maybe an Infected Lexthan oneshot. I've got a lot on my plate currently, but if anyone else wants to do them.... hint hint.~~  
>  I know canon Lex prolly wouldn't be stupid enough to hug Ethan, but Lex's nerves are fried and she's freaked out and she just wants her normal boyfriend back.  
> HUGE thanks to my dear friend Nervy for helping me with some lyrics- specifically the section from "So come on./Come out." to "My arms are open./Do you think I’m jokin’?” Love ya fam.   
> If you liked it, please, please comment! Or if this made you sad, please comment!   
> Have a lovely day, and until next time!


End file.
